The Philippines' Imelda Schweighart failed to make it past the first cut, while Sweden's Cloie Syquia Skarne, the half-sister of actress and television host KC Concepcion, finished in the Top 8.

Schweighart was gunning for an unprecedented third straight Miss Earth crown for the Philippines after Ong and 2014 titleholder Jamie Herrell.

This is the second time Ecuador has won the Manila-based pageant. The 23-year-old Katherine said she joined the beauty contest to forward her advocacy of instilling in young students the importance of taking care of the environment.

"I chose this because I believe that the best age to teach a person to have environmental conscience is at an early age because on their growing years they will learn to have respect towards the environment which will help to the future generations," she explained.

"I truly believe that there should exist on every academic pensum an environmental class and I will work hard on it to make it possible."

Katherine Elizabeth Espin Gómez ( La Troncal , Ecuador , 15 of April of 1993 ) is a model and queen of Ecuadorian beauty famous for being the winner of Miss Earth 2016 , the second woman in her country to obtain the title

Espin was born in Canton La Troncal , in Ecuador , at age 9 moved to New York , United States for work of his parents, he lived six years there, he received numerous academic awards during their stay, in addition to sports awards and of Science. At age 11 Espin was an independent girl, since he moved alone from school to home. A sad episode of his life was when at age 13 he suffered from facial paralysis .

His career in beauty pageants began in 2013 , when he was the representative of his country in Reinado Internacional del Café 2013 , whose participation was unsuccessful, then in the same year he was a finalist and aspiring to become Ecuador 's representative to Miss World , at the national contest she was won by Párraga Laritza. Two years later, in 2015 he participated in Miss Bikini Universe 2015, where he was placed as first runner of the contest.

The 8 of August of 2016 the directive of the franchise Miss Earth Ecuador announced that Katherine Espin will represent that country in the 16th edition of Miss Earth to be held in Pasay City , Philippines .

During his stay in the contest was one of the most prominent figures among the candidates, winning numerous competitions in the pre-final night competitions, earning three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze medal, topping the medal table of the contest , besides obtaining the third place in national costumes of the American group, won the challenge of the favorite candidate of the press with Imelda Schweighart who was the representative of the Philippines , he won the challenge evening dress and competition dress for group 3 took second place in competition swimwear for him same group, plus get special prizes, including Miss Phoenix Petroleum, Miss Earth Hannnah and Miss Marco Polo, all these achievements was the direct key that allowed him access to round of the semifinals along with 15 other candidates.

On the final night Espín was the great figure of the contest, first paraded in swimsuit, then rank among the 8 best and show off the evening dress, until finally ranked among the top 4 to the round of questions the jury; finally he unveiled positions: Miss Fire was to Bruna Zanardo of Brazil , Miss Water Stephanie Zorzi of Venezuela , Miss Air for Michelle Gomez of Colombia , and finally Katherine spin won the contest Miss Earth , the second woman in her country the coveted title, the first was won by Olga Álava in Miss Earth 2011 .

'I really want to say to all the girls out there watching this right now everything is possible. You just have to put your heart and soul for it, if you want to accomplish your dream, everything is possible. Dream because dreams come true,' says Katherine.

Katherine Espín of Ecuador is Miss Earth 2016 and the second delegate from her country to win the title!

The newly crowned Katherine seemed overwhelmed while she was being interviewed after the pageant at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday, October 29.

"I feel blessed to be here. Actually, this is my dream. I have been wanting to be Miss Earth since I was 16 years old," Katherine told reporters. "There was an Ecuadorian named Olga Alava, [who] won the pageant, and I remembered that when I saw her, I saw myself winning and I'm making my dream come true."

Olga Alava, the first winner from Ecuador, won in 2011.

Katherine, 23, also said that her stay in the Philippines was one of the best. The Miss Earth delegates toured the country as they arrived in early October.

"I have to say I had the most amazing experience because I was able to meet so much people in Davao... people here are so warmhearted, they have such a nice heart. Everyone is just so polite and they treat us like stars, and I have never been in a country where people are so warmhearted, and I really want to thank every single people from the Philippines because they have treated me like in my house, in my home.

"I'll never forget the smiles on the people when I waved at them, when we visited so many cities, and I've seen them saying 'Ecuador, we're supporting you, we love you.' People that I've never seen in my life and supporting me. That was something huge. I think that by just seeing that, I felt like a winner," she said.

As she begins her journey with Miss Earth, Katherine said: "I want to work. I'm a lawyer and I fight for justice. And I fight for what's good. And now as Miss Earth, I will fight for the environment. I will fight to make a change in the world and to actually have people being conscientious about the environment and the respect that we need towards it.' Katherine's Instagram profile says she is a "future lawyer."

Katherine said she is also looking forward to working on her advocacy, which is environmental education for children.

She also gave some advice for young ladies who have big dreams for themselves.

"I really want to say to all the girls out there watching this right now everything is possible. You just have to put your heart and soul for it, if you want to accomplish your dream, everything is possible. Dream, because dreams come true."

?she seem to eloquent and has a good command of the English language. So I assume she went to school overseas?

If I remember correctly, she is a lawyer or something like that.

Katherine said: "I want to work. I'm a lawyer and I fight for justice. And I fight for what's good. And now as Miss Earth, I will fight for the environment. I will fight to make a change in the world and to actually have people being conscientious about the environment and the respect that we need towards it.'

The Rappler live streaming is the only thing that made me so fucking mad! Not the great results, esp. Miss Philippines clapping! That would have been awesome to watch live!!! I woke up very early on a freaking saturday morning all prepped up after lurking on the ME thread and then boom, the fucking third world country's internet connection allegedly broke down and so the live streaming went down. No plan B or what given that internet connectivity is a freaking mess in the Ph.

why am i so mad? because I HATE SPOILERS!!!I DON'T LIKE WATCHING ANYTHING WHEN I ALREADY KNOW THE FUCKING RESULTS. Rappler ruined it. I hope Rappler is closed down being funded by foreign money!!!!it's illegal in the Ph for media to be owned by foreign companies.

touch_of_class wrote:The Rappler live streaming is the only thing that made me so fucking mad! Not the great results, esp. Miss Philippines clapping! That would have been awesome to watch live!!! I woke up very early on a freaking saturday morning all prepped up after lurking on the ME thread and then boom, the fucking third world country's internet connection allegedly broke down and so the live streaming went down. No plan B or what given that internet connectivity is a freaking mess in the Ph.

why am i so mad? because I HATE SPOILERS!!!I DON'T LIKE WATCHING ANYTHING WHEN I ALREADY KNOW THE FUCKING RESULTS. Rappler ruined it. I hope Rappler is closed down being funded by foreign money!!!!it's illegal in the Ph for media to be owned by foreign companies.

IN PREVIOUS EDITIONS, RAPPLER HAS A GOOD COVERAGE. SO DONT BLAME THEM JUST LIKE THAT. SOMETHING MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED BEYOND THEIR CONTROL.